WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - Eastern Women's Tennis began its 2025 season at the King's College Tournament this past weekend.

"It was a fun first weekend of competition and team camaraderie," Eastern Head Coach Harrison Bitzberger said. "There were a lot of great teams at King's College this weekend and we competed hard in every match we played." 

Senior Anisah Smith began the weekend with a strong showing against King's, falling in a competitive No. 1 singles match 6-4, 2-6, 9-11. Sarah Mower also competed well against Misericordia's No. 1 player, falling 4-6, 1-6 before the rest of the tournament was postponed to Sunday due to the rain. 

With play resuming Sunday, the Eagles competed in eight more matches in a shortened format. Senior Kayleigh Achenbach picked up Eastern's lone win of the weekend at No. 5 singles, defeating King's No. 5 player 8-1 in the quarterfinals. Achenbach also competed with Grace Schriever at No. 2 doubles, falling in a close match 4-6, while Anaya Burch and first-year Lily Aldrich came up two games short in a 4-6 loss at No. 3 doubles.

All in all, Bitzberger was pleased with his team's performance, and hopes to build on the positives with four more fall matches on the horizon. 

We played a lot of tight matches where everyone fought extremely hard," Bitzberger concluded. "This was a great start to our fall season and we think this will help make us a better team going forward!"

Eastern returns to action on Friday, Sept. 26, traveling to Camden to take on the Rutgers-Camden Scarlet Raptors at 3:30 pm.